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Terrestrial chemical weathering of silicate minerals is a fundamental component of the global cycle of carbon and other elements. Past changes in temperature, rainfall, ice cover, sea-level and physical erosion are thought to affect weathering but the relative impact of these controls through time remains poorly constrained. This problem could be addressed if the nature of past weathering could be...

The δ18O and δ13C records of a 230Th/U dated, 2.2-m long stalagmite from Fengyu Cave in south China provide a continuous decadal-resolution (with 3698 measurements) proxy for regional climatic and environmental conditions during 4–65 ka. This single stalagmite reveals all Heinrich cold events, most Dansgaard-Oeschger warm events, deglaciation and Holocene Optimum, generally supporting the Hulu and...

A salvage excavation at the Lower Paleolithic site of Kefar Menahem West in the interior of the Israeli coastal plain yielded a flake industry devoid of handaxes and their byproducts. The archeological finds covering an area exceeding 2000m2, are found at the contact of two distinct sedimentological units: Quartzic Brown and hamra (red clay loam paleosols). The absence of handaxes hamper placing the...

The best available global climate information covering the last few thousand years is that obtained from the marine record, which averages worldwide effects of temperature and ice volume change, and is only marginally influenced by the localised climate changes that occur in areas less than continental in size. Consequently one of the key questions in palaeoclimate study is to understand climate changes...

Mediterranean landscapes have been characterized by the ongoing interaction between natural processes and anthropogenic activities over several thousands of years. However, separating the relative contributions of these two factors in shaping the landscape has proved to be difficult.With reference to three excavated probes located in the environs of the archaeological site of Tell es-Safi/Gath (central...

There is growing evidence that speleothem calcite grows out of isotopic equilibrium with cave drip water, with clumped isotope analysis providing a sensitive indicator for disequilibrium. This disequilibrium is primarily the result of CO 2 degassing from a thin film of water, leading to irreversible 13 C enrichment and reversible 18 O enrichment and Δ 47 depletion....

The “younger fill” phenomenon defined by Vita-Finzi, related to sediments that were deposited in many Mediterranean valleys, has been a topic of discussion for several decades. The main challenge regarding this issue is deciphering the origin of the fill: geomorphic processes induced by natural climatic, or by anthropogenic activity. The current research is an attempt to deal with this issue by using...

High-resolution isotopic and geochemical analyses in a modern (1990–2008) Soreq Cave stalagmite are compared to instrumental records of rainfall and dripwater from the cave, with the aim of determining how seasonal-resolution climate information is transmitted to speleothem geochemistry. In situ, micron-scale analysis of oxygen isotope ratios (δ 18 O) and trace elements by ion microprobe in...

This study focuses on warm Last Glacial episodes in the southernmost extension of the Alpine karst range of the Eastern Mediterranean (Levant) region through the study speleothems in Mizpe Shelagim Cave, located in Mt. Hermon. The Alpine karst range extends from Turkey through Syria and Lebanon, reaching its southern limit in Mt. Hermon at an elevation of more than 2000 m. Under present-day conditions,...

Wood ash, composed mainly of the mineral calcite, is an important component in many archaeological sites. Identification of wood ash in the archaeological record is often difficult due to mixing of ash with other calcitic components of geogenic origin and/or due to diagenetic changes. A recent empirical study using the stable isotope compositions of carbon (δ 13 C) and oxygen (δ 18 ...

The combination of ion microprobe analysis of δ 18 O and confocal laser fluorescent microscope imaging of annual growth bands in a Soreq Cave speleothem provides sub-annual-scale climate information between 34 and 4ka. This high-resolution methodology is ideal both for comparing seasonal climate patterns across broad windows of time and examining rapid climate events, such as the Younger Dryas...

In this paper we present new data pertaining to the paleo-landscape characteristics at the Acheulian site of Revadim, on the southern coastal plain of Israel. Sedimentological, isotopic, granulometric and micromorphological studies showed that the archaeological remains accumulated in an active fluvial environment where channel action, overbank flooding and episodic inundation occurred. Measurements...

The time at which deserts established their current arid or hyper-arid conditions remains a fundamental question regarding the history of Earth. Cosmogenic isotope exposure ages of desert pavement and welded, calcic–gypsic–salic Reg soils that developed on relatively flat alluvial surfaces ∼2 Ma ago in the Negev Desert indicate long geomorphic stability under extremely dry conditions. Over a short...

Israel's recent offshore gas discovery and possible onshore oil discoveries put Israel as an energy independent country. Up to now, the Heletz-Kokhav oil field is the largest oil finding in Israel. The main reservoir units in this oil field contain sandstone and shale layers intercalated with limestone and dolostone of the Lower Cretaceous Heletz Formation, found at an average depth of about 1600m...

Soils in similar geomorphic settings in hyperarid deserts (<50mm yr −1 ) should have similar characteristics because a negative moisture balance controls their development. However, Reg soils in the hyperarid southern Negev and Namib deserts are distinctly different. Soils developed on stable alluvial surfaces with only direct input of rainfall and dust depend heavily on rainfall characteristics...

Speleothems in arid and hyper-arid areas of Negev Desert, Israel, are used in paleoclimate reconstruction of northern margins of Saharan-Arabian Desert, focused on the following objectives: 1) precise U–Th dating of the timing of speleothem growth as an indicator of periods of humid climate, i.e. positive effective precipitation; 2) the origin of rainfall using the speleothem δ 18 O and changes...

Coastal South Africa draws interdisciplinary interests due to the co-occurrence of a rich record for early human behavioral modernity, hyper-diverse vegetation with very high endemism (the Cape Floral Region), and globally influential oceanic and climate systems. High resolution and continuous climate and environmental records are needed to provide the context for the evolution of behavioral modernity...

The influence of the northern Atlantic and tropical monsoonal systems, as recorded by the River Nile, on the climate variability of the southeastern Mediterranean was studied in two cores taken by the R/V Marion Dufresne: one core taken SE of Cyprus representing the northern Levantine Basin (core 9501, 980m water depth) and the other located ˜380km further south, represents the southeastern Levantine...

Ultramafic rocks are exposed at the core of a domal structure near a fossil ridge–transform intersection (RTI) in the Troodos ophiolite. A sequence of heavily serpentinized rocks occurs adjacent to a major axis–parallel fault, the Amiandos Fault (AF), which juxtaposes them against gabbro. Previously, serpentinization and faulting were not considered to be related to the Cretaceous ocean spreading...

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